A journal of my adventures through each game as I attempt to complete the Pokédex.

Saturday, June 8, 2013

FireRed Update 6/7

I actually got a lot done since the last update. Last time, I had just earned my Rainbow Badge and was about to take on Team Rocket at their secret headquarters under the Game Corner. Everything went without a hitch. I got my Silph Scope and even managed to earn enough coins to buy a TM. I also made sure to grab my HM02 and some tea for the guards blocking the entrances to Saffron City so that I could fly back when I was ready to clear Team Rocket out and take on the gyms.

Back in Lavender Town, I faced my rival in Pokemon Tower, then climbed to the top to calm the spirit of the dead Marowak (they should have expanded or dropped that story, it doesn't make much sense) and "rescue" Mr. Fuji. Although he was there of his own free will, he paid me for my trouble with the Pokeflute. Now those Snorlax blocking the paths to Fushia were fair game. I caught the one south of Lavender, but ran away from the one next to Celadon so I didn't have to go through multiple cycles of Rest again.

I went down Cycling Road to Fushia to play around in the Safari Zone. I had a few very good trips into the Safari Zone. Dragonair is the only pokemon available in the Zone that I did not manage to catch, but I got a few Dratinis. The first Chansey I found ran away, but I managed to catch the second one. Same with Scyther. A tauros got away but I caught 2 others. I saw 3 Kangaskhan and managed to catch 1. I could have sworn Dodrio was available in the Safari Zone, but according to Pokearth it isn't. Got my HM03 at the Secret House in area 4 and the Gold Teeth. After some Training on Route 15, I took on Koga's Gym. That is one gym I never understood. Koga specializes in poison types, but a lot of the trainers use psychics.

After winning the Soul badge, I flew back to Saffron and headed to Silph Co. Back in the days of Red/Blue/Yellow, I had the perfect path in that place memorized. It's been a while... I couldn't remember where anything is so I just went floor to floor until I found the card key, then started over going floor to floor to make sure I found all the items and beat all the rockets and scientists. After I beat my rival again (that guy has to be getting tired of losing to me by now) I received a Lapras from a Silph worker and headed up to the president's office to take on Giovanni for a second time. After he disappeared, the president thanked me with a prototype of one of Silph's newest inventions which he claims will catch any pokemon without fail. The fighting Dojo and Saffron Gym resulted in a new Marsh Badge and a Hitmonlee.

Then I flew back to Fushia and headed south and west to Seafoam Island. Seafoam definitely has less pokemon than I remember and I was dissapointed to not find Staru (found out it's LeafGreen exclusive). At least I caught Articuno (took 2 tries and about 15 Ultra Balls and 10 Great balls even though his health was so low I couldn't see it and he was asleep/paralyzed the whole time). Then I went straight to Cinnabar Island.

My first stop was to the lab to revive my fossils (Kabuto and Aerodactyl), then on to Pokemon Mansion. For being the Burned Out Building, there sure aren't as many fire pokemon as there used to be. Anyway, I made it through and got my secret key as well as some pretty decent TMs, then to the center for some healing. In Blaine's gym, I answered all of the questions correctly but I still battled all the trainers for the experience. Blaine was taken down by Poliwrath and Dugtrio and I got my Volcano Badge.

When I walked out the door, Bill was there waiting for me (he played it off like he was surprised to see me, but I know the truth). He made small talk and then asked me to go with him to the remote One Island to meet up with his fellow maniac, Celio. As weird as it sounded, I took him up on his offer and got on the boat with him. I'm not sure what happened on the cruise ship, but once we got there, he completely ditched me to geek talk with his "friend" Celio. They gave me a meteorite and asked me to deliver it to a man on Two Island. I'm pretty sure they were just trying to get some alone time. At least I also got the Tri-Pass so I can travel between the islands. Before leaving One island, I headed up Kindle Road to Mt. Ember where I encountered my second legendary bird, Moltres. This catch was easier than Articuno. It only took me one try and I didn't need to use quite as many balls to catch it. There wasn't much going on on Two Island. I found the man I was supposed to deliver the Meteorite to, but he was busy trying to find his daughter (or rather, he was busy worrying about his daughter and looking for someone else to go find her). Just after he asked me to go to Three Island to look for her, a biker barged in (how he got the bike inside without Professor Oak jumping down his throat about it not being "the right time to use that", I will never know) looking for the rest of his gang, but he was on the wrong island. Apparently he was going to the same place as me, but didn't offer me a ride (how rude).

On Three Island, that biker's gang was causing trouble for the locals and claiming they were taking over the place. I showed them who's boss and they left in a flash just like Team Rocket. Once the way was finally clear, I headed to the berry forest and found the meteor man's daughter, Lostelle (who talks very strangely - she either has an accent or she baby talks(a pet peeve of mine)). Is it a coincidence that a girl named Lostelle was lost? She warped me back to her dad's shop and he gave me a parting gift. Then I headed back to One Island. Bill and Celio were sorry for leaving me alone the whole time but let me know that Celio would make it up to me if I come back later. Bill and I finally sailed back to Cinnabar Island so I could get back to my quest. I flew straight to Viridian City and was lucky to find out that the mysterious gym leader had finally returned to his gym.

Did some more grinding to make sure Poliwrath, Gloom (holding out for a sun stone), and Kadabra were prepared for the upcoming battle against all the ground, fighting and poison pokemon in the gym. Then I headed in. I made my way around the gym. For some strange reason, the gym had a lot of the same zooming floor tiles as the rocket hideout under the game corner. I finally made it to the mysterious gym leader only to find out that he was none other than Giovanni. Our third and final battle commenced and his Rhyhorns fell to Gloom's Petal Dance, Dugtrio to Poliwrath's tidal wave, and Nidoking and Nidoqueen to Kadabra's Psychic. I earned the Earth Badge and a TM for Earthquake and Team Rocket was officially shut down for good.
Before I head to the Pokemon league, I'm going to do some serious grinding to make sure my pokemon and I have the skills to be number one. I also want to go to the power plant to catch some electric pokemon that I don't have yet and to complete my legendary trio. In the mean time...